Why this is a must-see for those who really like idols
I’ve been saying a lot of times that the idol boom is here, and now we are to witness an event where indie idols and their fans meet and and greet to each other.
This event gathers popular indie idol groups in the country
On September 2 (Sunday — in just two months) at the TIU Theater inside Makati Square in Makati City, thirteen groups will be performing in the 7-hour event, regardless if they create their songs or do song covers.
These groups include:
Ivy! Musume
Among the early groups in the community, Ivy! Musume has been propagating the support for Morning Musume for years.
CH4U
The current concept of CH4U is that they have members from the metro (idols you can meet) and members from the provinces (internet idols) — this is as far as I understood with their interview with Do it for the Aidols.
When the group was launched, the concept of virtual idols greeted us.
ALICE Project (The Alliance of Limitless Idols Connecting Everyone)
The Alyansa (I prefer to call them as such) is an alliance of anime idol cover groups such as Aquarius (Kibi, past MNL48 top 200 Soufi, Kia and Denise are the ones I recall the most), Dreamcatcher and Sunrise PH (for this group, I remember Rei the most) among others.
They did cover Koisuru Fortune Cookie too.
Pastel Mix
Pastel Mix is from the southern Philippines and they are present in most if not all Ambox’s events are being held — that said, this is probably their first time to perform in such event in a place like Makati City.
Seishun Kakumei
My history with Seishun Kakumei might have been mixed with the story of how I met Satsunyan-senpai online around 2015 or so.
They are the senpais I trust, having interviewed STARMARIE in 2015 for Tokyo Girls Update when they were in Manila for their fan meet. Two years later at the Best of Anime 2017, they are hailed champion for its anime idol dance competition, besting out two other groups with their iRis propaganda.
Y-Aidoru (Asterism)
Tanchikon had already teased the track for Asterism on her performance at POF 2018: Ai, and I’m expecting that
Aidoru Sozai
The confusion over LoveSo’s “first live” and “debut live” shall be laid to rest as they will release their original songs in this event.
Other groups include Master of Ceremonies JAPH Dolls (perhaps the first Filipina-Japanese idol group signed under Viva Records), Twinkle, AOS, Poly-V, Project Urodia and Next Bomb.
Tickets set at Php500 on the event day. Ticket pre-selling (via online reservation) will be held on July 10 to 13, which will cost Php400.
For more information, visit Manila Idol Matsuri on Facebook.
On a side note, did you know that the TIU Theater where this event will be held was established by a Japanese who is a supporter of the Philippine art scene?
Mr. Toshihiko Uriu arrived in the country in the 1990s representing Food for the Hungry International, documenting Payatas.
In 1995, he was injured by a stray bullet while documenting the demolition of shanties in the area. This experience made him more attached to the poor in the area so much that he did what he can do to help them, leading to the establishment of the Creative Image Foundation in 2000.
Fast forward to 2014, the TIU Theater was set up in the former site of Louie’s THX Cinema at the Mile Long Compound in Makati (the Inquirer has a story on this) and sat there until 2017 when they moved to the second level of Makati Square due to legal issues involving the said compound (you can refer to this feature by The Urban Roamer for a light read).